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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498480">The Gilded Eyes of Kaga</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/janitor/pseuds/janitor'>janitor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Gilded Eyes of Kaga [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dororo (Anime 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Minor OC Death, Pre-Canon, children hitting each other with sticks, exploiting your own sons for fun and political profit, mild eye horror, slightly less dysfunctional than canon family, terrible sibling bonding attempts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:08:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,313</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/janitor/pseuds/janitor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All those who enjoyed the prosperity of Kaga knew to give their thanks to the Gilded Eyes: a child blessed by Buddha, who suffered bravely for his people, and brought judgement upon evil with blind eyes that could see through souls.</p><p>(AU where Hyakkimaru was not abandoned at birth, and grew up in the Daigo estate. Prologue to <i>The Path Between</i>.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Gilded Eyes of Kaga [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860418</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Gilded Eyes of Kaga</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In Kaga, the first rain of three years began to fall, washing away wounds and scars upon the land. At the same moment, the cry of a newborn infant was silenced by a bolt of lightning.</p><p>“My lord, please, let me keep this child. What harm could he possibly do to you?” cried Nui no Kata, as she desperately held her son.</p><p>“The wretched thing won’t live for long anyways,” said Daigo Kagemitsu.</p><p>“I will give you another heir,” she pleaded.</p><p>“Certainly, you will,” he sneered.</p><p>“This child does not even need to tarnish your name. Let him grow up in a countryside orphanage, where his life will be small and affect no-one.”</p><p>“How foolish would I be, to let a son with a plausible claim to my land out in the world?” he said, but in the back of his mind, Daigo realized his own contradiction. Why would he be afraid of this infant, barely even a person? The demons would sneer at this display of paranoia.</p><p>“Enough,” he shook his head. “You are the foolish one, for believing a wretched life for that thing is better than death. Give it to me.”</p><p>He reached out to grab the child, but she held onto it with surprising strength. Even when he wrestled the bundle away, she clutched to his robes with the pure desperate ferocity of a beast. He struck her, she grimaced but did not even cry out or loosen her grip.</p><p>It was at that moment, Nui understood her husband only knew the language of power, and that her prayers to Buddha would not save her child from being taken away. So she said, wavering. “My lord, take him from me and I will be lost forever as well. But with him, I will rule by your side. There is strength in what we may accomplish together, as husband and wife.”</p><p>“There’s nothing you can offer me," he scoffed. "This country will fall to my blade alone.”</p><p>“While you turn your blade outwards to the other lords, you will need those closest and most loyal to you to watch your back. I will be your faithful eyes and hands,” she insisted.</p><p>Daigo was almost impressed by this unexpected brazen flame in his usually demure wife. She was promising something he could not refuse. All great warlords were built on the backs of loyal men. Daigo had those men, but from his own experience, he could never fully trust any of them. However, the faithfulness of a wife, combined with the ferocious instincts awakened in a mother, that intrigued him. He still doubted she could wield power like he did, but a man who dealt with demons was nothing if not resourceful in where he found and used power. He wanted to test her limits. “What about that child?”</p><p>Nui clutched the infant to her. If it would ensure her son’s safety, then nothing else mattered to her at that moment. “He… can be useful as well.” Each word felt like a stab to her own chest.</p><p>The deal satisfied Daigo, for now. He could picture it, the image of a perfect family, ruling the Kaga province. The lord and his wife acting as one will, like a two-headed, four-armed demon. It was a fitting image for what he had become.</p><p> </p><p>###</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Swing, strike, return to stance.</em>
</p><p>Tahomaru practiced by himself in the courtyard, undeterred by the sun prickling the back of his neck. The instructor and servants had gone inside to shelter from the midday heat, after he had dismissed them all. Even Mutsu and Hyogo, after sharing a look between them, had ducked their heads and left him alone. Only Hyakkimaru remained, watching from the side.</p><p>He could feel that he wasn’t getting the movement down right. It was proving difficult to master this particular series of drills, and along with the rising frustration he could feel eyes boring into him. He paused.</p><p>“You are distracting me,” he growled. Hyakkimaru continued staring through him. He had a tendency to watch people for long periods of time, and in particular he enjoyed observing his brother’s aura, with its unique rippling brightness. But it was a habit unnerving to many.</p><p>“If you like watching so much, then why don’t you try it yourself?” Tahomaru grabbed a second bokken and shoved it in his brother’s hand. Hyakkimaru’s porcelain fingers reflexively closed around it, the same way they’d curl around a cup, or a string of beads, or anything else handed to him. He stood there motionless in a flat footed stance.</p><p>“Hmph,” Tahomaru scoffed, giving him a light whack over the head. When that elicited nothing, he planted the end of his bokken against Hyakkimaru’s chest, and shoved until he tipped over his center of balance and toppled over with a <em>whump</em> of fabric.</p><p>Tahomaru turned his back, about to resume his exercise, and took not one step before he tripped and fell.</p><p>He scrambled to his feet, whirling around. Hyakkimaru was still sprawled on the ground, but he had reached out with his bokken to trip his brother.</p><p>“Oh, do you think that was funny?” He snarled, hastily brushing hair out of his eyes. Hyakkimaru slowly picked himself up, wobbling on his sculpted legs, and put himself into a slightly crouched stance, one he had seen this particular soul practice many times.</p><p>Seeing his brother imitate him like that only irritated Tahomaru further. He swung, and to his utter surprise, Hyakkimaru managed to bring his bokken up and block it in time. It was a terrible block, he could tell. Instead of redirecting the blow safely to the side, Hyakkimaru simply let his arms bear all of it. His stiffly locked joints rattled with the force they absorbed.</p><p>“You’re not doing it right!” Tahomaru swung again. He had the proper technique for knocking over opponents much larger than him drilled into his head. Hyakkimaru was far from adult-sized though, and the blow sent him flying across the courtyard further than expected. The boy tumbled a few times and skidded to a stop against the patio.</p><p>Hyakkimaru sensed that his sword was too far out of reach. Instead, he groped around the edge of the patio for where he had left his crutches, two iron canes with sturdy handles. Tahomaru took a step back. He just wanted to tell his brother off for bothering him, not actually fight him. He would have called it off after that last blow, but Hyakkimaru couldn’t hear him, and he didn’t know how else to tell him to stop.</p><p>“Tahomaru! Stop tormenting him, please.”</p><p>Lady Nui stepped out to the patio. Tahomaru remained in his stance, glaring warily at his brother. His mother pulled Hyakkimaru against her layered robes. She reached down to take his canes, but thought better than to touch the hot sun-baked metal, and instead tapped the back of his hands twice. Hyakkimaru obligingly loosened his grip.</p><p>“I’m sorry, mother.” Tahomaru lowered his bokken as well. “He started it,” he added.</p><p>“What were you thinking? Who taught you to pick on someone so defenseless?”</p><p>“I wasn’t going to <em>actually</em> hurt him,” he mumbled petulantly. He wasn’t concerned about what his mother could make him do. It wasn’t as if Hyakkimaru could hear him apologize.</p><p>“Oh, my son…” Nui sighed. She leaned down to brush the dust off Hyakkimaru’s clothes, and when she straightened back up, her face was a serene mask again. “Why don’t you go clean up and get changed? There is lunch is waiting for you.”</p><p>Behind her, she nudged Hyakkimaru indoors. Tahomaru could hear his crutches click-clacking down the hall. “And once the sun is lower, take Hyakkimaru down to Takeuchi village with you," she said.</p><p>He frowned, he wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be his punishment. “I’ve never taken him outside.”</p><p>“You must learn to care for our people in the cradle of our land as well, not just those who risk their lives at the borders.” She gently placed a hand on Tahomaru’s shoulder. The boy squirmed in embarrassment. At this age, his defiance against these kinds of maternal gestures was starting to show. “If you go, I have an important mission for you,” she added with a smile.</p><p>Tahomaru thought better than to keep fighting this battle. “Very well, mother,” he said.</p><p> </p><p>###</p><p> </p><p>As a pleasant afternoon breeze picked up and chased away the midday sun, Tahomaru headed off for the village. Hyogo and Mutsu rode a short distance behind, and Hyakkimaru’s white mare followed beside him, tethered to his own chestnut steed.</p><p>Though Tahomaru was still fuming a little, Hyakkimaru seemed perfectly content to let his horse trot along without his guidance and simply enjoy the swaying motion with his eyes closed. His mask was a masterwork of craftsmanship, with articulated eyelids complete with delicate false lashes that framed his polished onyx eyes. He sometimes just had them closed while walking around, as it did not impede his ability to sense his surroundings.</p><p>Calling the place a village was being generous, Tahomaru thought. Takeuchi was barely more a handful of houses and sheds, squeezed into a small clearing in a dense bamboo grove. Unlike the castle, high up on the hill with its proud walls, the village could barely fend off the encroaching wilderness, and the path they rode in on was narrow and uneven. Still, this place was large enough to be swept under Daigo’s protection, and pay the associated taxes that came with it.</p><p>Tahomaru dismounted and hitched their horses. He hesitated to help his brother down, since he was not at all familiar with Hyakkimaru’s customary tours around Daigo's lands. He figured that Hyogo would take care of setting Hyakkimaru up, and went to find the village foreman with Mutsu tailing him. Finding the foreman’s residence wasn’t hard, he just marched towards the house that was slightly nicer than the rest. He handed a letter from his mother to the bearded man inside. The foreman read the message, then tucked it away.</p><p>“If there are any issues you wish to bring up to the Lady, you can address it to me, and I’ll see it delivered to her.” Tahomaru said, straightening his back and folding his arms behind him.</p><p>“Erm, all is well here, sir.” the bamboo cutter said politely, then he cleared his throat and added, “Although, if you wouldn’t mind returning in a while, I will have a letter drafted for the Lady, concerning some harvesting tools we need.” Tahomaru nodded in satisfaction and took his leave, then he parked himself outside and kept watch over Hyakkimaru out the corners of his eyes, trying to look more serious and stately than bored.</p><p>A sparse crowd was forming around the center of the village, where Hyakkimaru sat cross-legged on an embroidered cushion. He held a string of bamboo tokens, and as each villager came up to him, he carefully thumbed through each of the pieces, running his fingers over the indented inscriptions on them, before choosing one and offering it to the person in front of him.</p><p>A bald old man carrying an equally ancient-looking lute on his back shuffled out of a nearby shed. “My, what’s with the commotion there?” he asked. Tahomaru nearly jumped, and tried to pretend he had not been resting his eyes.</p><p>Thankfully, Hyogo answered so Tahomaru would not have to address someone who did not treat him with proper formality. “That is Hyakkimaru, the Gilded Eyes of Kaga. He is offering the guidance of Buddha to the people here.”</p><p>“Forgive me, I’m just a traveling priest. How did he come to have such a blessing?“ asked Biwamaru.</p><p>“Thirteen years ago, the Lady of this land came across an abandoned infant. In her great mercy and compassion, she took him in. The infant was beset by demons, who had devoured his body and senses. You may not be able to discern this, but his limbs and face are false,” Hyogo described. The old man nodded appreciatively.  “Before they could take him completely, our lord, Daigo Kagemitsu, defeated the demons. You see, Buddha protected the child, and miraculously lives through him still.”</p><p>“How fascinating,” said Biwamaru, though the story did not explain the red aura of a curse he sensed around the boy.</p><p>“If you wish, you may go up to him,” said Mutsu. “You seem like a devout man.”</p><p>“Hm,” Biwamaru strolled off towards Hyakkimaru, leaning on his cane. Tahomaru pursed his lips. That was one thing he did not like to do, keeping secrets from Hyogo and Mutsu, who were as much his best friends as a boy like him could have. Only his family knew that Hyakkimaru was his brother by blood, not adoption. He could recite the fabrication given to Daigo’s people if needed, but it was just as well that someone who believed it to be the truth explained it instead.</p><p>“What a nice young man,” said Biwamaru, unfazed by the strong demonic presence that was mere inches from him. Hyakkimaru watched him back, his fingers clicking through pieces of bamboo. He took an especially long time to pick a token and drop it in the old man’s hand. Biwamaru traced the engraved text with his finger.</p><p>“The tallest mountains… hold the deepest caverns,” he read, and laughed softly. He tucked the fortune into the folds of his clothes, and wandered off back to his shed.</p><p>“Young lord,” Mutsu leaned down and spoke to Tahomaru quietly. “I heard that you were sparring with the Divine Child earlier.”</p><p>“It wasn’t anything like that.”</p><p>“Forgive my presumption then, I only wanted to check how you are feeling now.”</p><p>“I’m fine,” he sulked.</p><p>“The Lady must have wanted an evening of quiet to herself,” said Mutsu with a slight wry smile.</p><p>Tahomaru snorted. Mutsu always knew exactly what to say to break him out of a mood. For a moment, they commiserated together over his mother’s terribly unfair treatment of him in companionable silence, then he changed the subject. “So, does your brother take Hyakkimaru out here a lot?”</p><p>“Indeed, those who live closest to our home are most often blessed by his presence.”</p><p>“I’ve gone hunting in these woods a few times,” he said. Only in the past year had he been allowed to ride this far away from the estate, with just his retainers for company.</p><p>“You must know this area quite well.”</p><p>“Yes,” Tahomaru said proudly. “The ground is uneven around here, not ideal for hunting or defense, but there are some good vantage points to the north and west.”</p><p>“It makes one curious about this village’s organization and supply source.”</p><p>“Don’t quiz me, Mutsu. You are not my tutor.” Tahomaru rolled his eyes. The only reason this trip was more pleasant than suffering to him was that he could get away from most of his retinue for an afternoon.</p><p>Mutsu tilted their head down innocently. “I am merely inspired by your devotion to your studies.”</p><p>“But you think I should spend less time with my head buried in tactical maps,” Tahomaru smirked. Mutsu did not object.</p><p>“In any case, what’s there to say about this place?” Tahomaru waved a dismissive hand. “It’s just a logging camp, they make their living selling bamboo to the towns downriver.”</p><p>“They are simple bamboo cutters, yet their leader is literate, and writes directly to her Ladyship?”</p><p>“Oh,” he looked up at them. “Why here?” he whispered.</p><p>“It is not my place to question the Lady’s decisions,” they replied. “Consider it a lesson in remaining observant, young lord.”</p><p>As the villagers dispersed and headed back to work, a pretty woman with a painted face and large voluminous robes emerged from the foreman’s house. She gracefully swept her way towards Hyakkimaru.</p><p>“Poor thing,” the woman smiled at him. “That you have so much burden placed on your shoulders. Have you got a few wise words of Buddha to spare for a lady like me?”</p><p>The clicking of porcelain fingers against bamboo stopped. Hyakkimaru went stiff all over. He raised a hand slowly, and pointed at the woman.</p><p>Tahomaru held his breath. He recalled that dignitaries and local village heads often visited the Daigo estate. He had sat in on some of these meetings, and Hyakkimaru was always present as well. Most of the time he just sat in a corner, eliciting a few comments of sympathy from the guests before they moved on, but sometimes he would point to one of them, just like this. Daigo’s eyes would narrow, but he would continue speaking jovially, and after the meeting he would invite the guest to stay for the night. Tahomaru was not allowed in the guest rooms, but he would overhear his father’s commanding voice and his mother’s charming tongue, and by the next day, the guest would be thrown in the cellars for having confessed to a grave crime. Or else they’d walk out the front gate with a rich gift and promises of alliance, fear and guilt in their eyes.</p><p>If Buddha lived through Hyakkimaru, then he did not just show mercy, but rendered judgement as well.</p><p>“Not in the mood? I understand,” the lady cooed. “You must be tired after seeing to so many of your subjects.”</p><p>Hyakkimaru continued to point at her, his whole body trembling hard. Abruptly, he reached for his crutches and pushed himself up, leaning on one while keeping the other pointed at her. The woman narrowed her eyes.</p><p>Tahomaru had never seen his brother react this strongly before. He came to his senses and said: “Mutsu, Hyogo, apprehend her.”</p><p>The woman tsked, and fled into the bamboo blindingly quickly. Before anyone else could react, Hyakkimaru sprang towards his white mare, flipped himself onto the horse’s back with one cane firmly planted in the stirrup, and rode into the forest after her.</p><p>“What the hell?” Tahomaru rushed to his horse. He fumbled with the knot tied around the bamboo post, admonishing himself for neglecting to properly hitch Hyakkimaru’s mount. The mare’s bridle had been torn off easily, and it dangled from his horse by one flimsy leather strap.</p><p>The bamboo grove was difficult to navigate, made more so by the sun casting long shadows through the foliage. Tahomaru and his retainers stayed quiet, straining their ears for the sound of other hoofbeats. There was no use calling out.</p><p>“How is it so difficult to track a white horse?” he seethed. He did his best to follow the trail of disturbed leaves and snapped bamboo stalks, but now every direction looked more or less the same. “For that matter, how can he get so far without the bridle?”</p><p>Hyogo cleared his throat. “The Child is quite experienced at riding. He taught that mare to respond to motion from his legs.” The retainers split their time attending both the young lord and the Gilded Eyes. Hyogo in particular spent more time with Hyakkimaru, acting as his bodyguard outside the estate.</p><p>“Is that so?” Tahomaru huffed in annoyance at having underestimated his brother twice in a day. “Have you ever seen him act like that?”</p><p>“No, sir.”</p><p>“He must have sensed something very wrong about that woman,” said Tahomaru. “Maybe she committed murder, or…”</p><p>“She might be inhuman,” Mutsu suggested.</p><p>“A monster or a ghoul, disguised as human?” Tahomaru said uneasily. “In that case, we must find him quickly. One of you ride back to the estate and call out the household guards.”</p><p>“Young lord, the danger could be close. We would prefer to not leave you vulnerable.”</p><p>“Hyakkimaru is out there, completely unprotected and unarmed!” said Tahomaru. “We can’t underestimate her strength-“</p><p>“Would it not be better to find the Child as quickly as possible, return him home safely, then send out men to sweep the forest? Aggravating the monster while he is still around may be unwise.” The brothers were using the tone that meant they were being polite, but decidedly not going to budge on the matter.</p><p>“Fine,” said Tahomaru, squinting at the underbrush around them, trying to discern a trail. “I swear, we need to attach some bells to his horse next time.”</p><p>“There,” Mutsu nodded in the direction of some rustling leaves. They hurried over, but all they found was the old blind man from the village, thumping the base of bamboo stalks with his cane as he walked.</p><p>“Priest,” Hyogo called out. “What are you doing out here?”</p><p>“I thought I heard that Hyakkimaru run off into the forest. I was a little concerned,” he said humbly.</p><p>“We are looking for an unusually-dressed woman from the village. You should head back, she may be dangerous.”</p><p>“No need to worry about me, I’ve survived plenty of danger on the road.” said Biwamaru. “So, he chased after her, did he?”</p><p>“What is she?” Tahomaru cut in. “She was hiding in the foreman’s house. What do you know about her?”</p><p>“Nothing, I’m afraid. I’ve only only been here for a day. But some of us without sight can still see, in some sense of the word.” Biwamaru held the bamboo fortune from Hyakkimaru in front of him, smiling. “With the way your brother looked at me, I’m willing to bet that he is much the same.”</p><p>“Hyakkimaru is not my brother. He’s adopted.” Tahomaru said stiffly.</p><p>“Apologies, I must have forgot.”</p><p>Tahomaru frowned, he didn’t know what to make of this strange old man, but he had no time to waste right now, and his gut told him the priest was telling the truth. “Help us find them,” he commanded.</p><p>Hyogo made room for Biwamaru on his saddle and helped him up. “Can you defend yourself?”</p><p>“Well enough.”</p><p>Hyogo clearly did not believe him. “We will protect you if we can, but our first priority will be defending the young lord. We do not ask you to put yourself in danger.”</p><p>Silence gnawed at Tahomaru’s mind as they continued to search for a trail. Worry for his brother occupied all of his thoughts. Biwamaru gestured for attention, and pointed to the west. He nodded and steered towards that direction. The faint rustling of a person running through foliage, alone and not on horseback, grew louder.</p><p>The lady from the village, disheveled and robe hems muddied, froze as three horses suddenly surrounded her.</p><p>“Lords,” she said very slowly, raising her open hands in front of her in a gesture of helplessness. “Please listen. The boy with the mask accused me of something I don’t know about. I only fled for fear of what he might do to me.”</p><p>“What did you think he could possibly do to you?” Tahomaru spat.</p><p>“Her soul is red like blood,” said Biwamaru. “The colour of a demon.”</p><p>“Where is Hyakkimaru?” said Tahomaru, looking around for any sign of a boy or a white horse. Fear rose in his throat at the thought that the demon might have eaten his brother.</p><p>“Not here,” the priest reassured him. “That boy’s aura stands out. Her soul is empty and hungry.”</p><p>The woman’s face began to twist, first into a scowl, and then beyond a normal human’s range of expressions, into a grinning oni visage. The riders dismounted, the retainers with their weapons drawn and ready. “Ah, watch out-“ said Biwamaru.</p><p>Tahomaru and his retainers were caught off guard by her dress suddenly billowing to life. A lizard-like body emerged from beneath, revealing the human form to only be a false lure. Her true form was large, but emaciated, with loose sagging skin and a distended belly. Only Biwamaru dodged out of the way as she slammed into them.</p><p>The demon’s mane of snakelike appendages sprang to life, wrapping around her victims. The old priest drew a blade from a hidden compartment in his lute, and with a single swift motion sliced Tahomaru free of the demon’s grasp seconds before she would have crushed his windpipe.</p><p>The demon let go of the struggling retainers, quickly learning to stay out of range of the priest’s blade. She cut down swaths of the surrounding bamboo and sent them hurtling towards her foes before she retreated into the foliage. Hyogo immediately rushed towards Tahomaru and struck the spears away with his steel club. One grazed his forehead, cutting open the skin above his brows, but he barely flinched. Tahomaru coughed and rubbed his neck, silently cursing his lack of a weapon.</p><p>“Tsk,” said Biwamaru, “Weak and starving thing, running away like a wounded beast.” He prodded the cut bamboo stalks with the end of his blade. They were sliced off into a sharp taper at waist-high level, tall enough to rake and disembowel a horse’s underbelly if it rode through. “Clever, cutting down the bamboo to force us off our horses.”</p><p>“We can pursue on foot. In her current form, she is not suited for navigating these spikes either,” said Mutsu, pointing to smears of purple blood left on a stalk. “She would endanger herself, to merely inconvenience us.”</p><p>“We can take that demon down,” Tahomaru breathed heavily. “There should be a small cliff north of here, we can set a trap. We’ll need the villagers. Mutsu, take the priest with you and keep following the monster. Stay at a safe distance but keep her pinned to this area. Hyogo and I will take the horses back to the village.”</p><p>Thankfully, they had not ended up too far from the village and made their way back in short order. Tahomaru practically leapt off his horse and barged into the foreman’s house. When his eyes adjusted to the indoor dimness, he recoiled in horror.</p><p>The man was dead.</p><p>Tahomaru took a few unsteady steps back as Hyogo caught up to him. The bamboo cutter was sprawled over his desk, clearly strangled to death by the demon’s appendages. His hands were stained with ink, and most of his lower body was gnawed off.</p><p>“Oh hell, he-“ Tahomaru averted his eyes, and tried to not throw up. Hyogo stepped forward grimly and checked the body. The foreman was still clutching a few shreds of bloodied parchment. He retrieved them and ushered his charge out of the house.</p><p>“Young lord, it looks like he was writing a letter about this demon.” He could not make out much writing on the remaining scraps. “She calls herself Bandai. She had been keeping him imprisoned and watching his every move.”</p><p>“He was trying- trying to get a warning out. So she- she killed him.“ Tahomaru was beginning to hyperventilate.</p><p>Hyogo placed an arm around Tahomaru’s shoulder. He had known that one day his young charge would see death, and he was prepared for the eventuality, having experienced it far earlier in life. “You need just say the word, sir, and I will take you home and order out the guards to search the forest.”</p><p>Tahomaru shook his head frantically, “We’re not fast enough. She’s still- still out there. We can’t let her eat Hyakkimaru.”</p><p>Hyogo hesitated, before responding solemnly. “I fear that is true. I would not forgive myself if my negligence allowed the Divine Child to die. Allow me to speak to the villagers.” Tahomaru managed a tiny nod.</p><p>By the time he was able to somewhat push down the sickening lurch in his stomach, and his vision stopped spinning every time he opened his eyes, Hyogo had gathered a dozen bamboo cutters working in the woods nearby and explained the situation. A few of the younger men- younger than Hyogo- were skeptical that a demon could threaten them here, but they quickly became somber when they learned about their foreman’s death. A few of them stayed behind to guard the village and the horses, the rest were ready to follow, axes in hand.</p><p>“I found this in the house, sir.” Hyogo handed Tahomaru a tachi. Its make and engravings marked its original owner as a samurai in rank. It was a little too heavy to suit him, but it would have to do.</p><p>There was no question of him being the one to lead the villagers. They needed to look to him and see their Lord’s son and successor, not a scared child to be pitied. He couldn’t be like his brother, who they needed to save right now, before he got eaten too, he thought in a haze of fear.</p><p>“Right,” Tahomaru took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”</p><p>The gaggle of men marched into the bamboo grove, to the location Tahomaru remembered from the map which hung in his father’s war room. He peered up at the cliff, trying to gauge how far the monster might land. He walked out, paused, then added five extra steps for good measure. “Cut all the bamboo from here to the cliff at a slant, make them as sharp as you can,” he ordered.</p><p>The villagers began to work quickly. “Let’s go find the others,” he said to Hyogo.</p><p>Finding Mutsu and Biwamaru was not difficult. The two had not strayed far from the spot they split up, standing back to back with their weapons at the ready. The old man nudged Mutsu’s back with his elbow. They nodded minutely, and released the arrow they had notched. The others could not see anything behind the undergrowth it sailed into, but it hit its mark with a thunk and a piercing shriek from the demon.</p><p>“The trap is set,” Hyogo reported. The two let go of each other’s backs, and they all fanned out to approach the demon.</p><p>Bandai was truly surrounded, on her left was the archer with their bow drawn, gleaming arrow promising more pain. The way forward was blocked by the blind old man she could not shake off no matter what. The most promising opening was the boy with the drawn sword. She fired more sharpened spears of bamboo towards him. Tahomaru dove for cover, but a spear ripped open his sleeve and left a cut on his arm. As immediate retribution, Mutsu let their arrow fly straight into the demon’s eye.</p><p>“I’m okay,” Tahomaru gritted out, “Keep moving!”</p><p>They inched closer and closer towards the cliff, but Bandai held her ground, despite her many wounds dripping with blood. Her appendages came close to entangling Tahomaru again, but he cut through them with his sword. Her piercing shrieks sent gusts of wind at them that nearly knocked them off their feet.</p><p>“She’s not losing her strength,” Biwamaru observed. “So you did feed recently, didn’t you.”</p><p>Bandai lowered her bloodied maned head, preparing to charge. For a second, Tahomaru stared into those demonic yellow eyes, frozen in place, terrifyingly sure he was going to die. Then Mutsu and Hyogo stepped forward to cover his flanks, loyal and fearless as ever, and the spell broke its hold on him.</p><p>“You are a scourge on my home, demon!” He stood his ground and shouted. “You dare to harm my people, and treat us like prey? Then I, Tahomaru, will strike you down-”</p><p>The sudden thundering of hooves drowned him out. A white horse, with Hyakkimaru sitting astride, crashed into Bandai and sent them both hurtling off the cliff.</p><p> </p><p>###</p><p> </p><p>Hyakkimaru was curled up on the ground, not in pain, but drowning in an awful sensation nonetheless. His mare knelt down beside him. Instinctively, he burrowed his face into her flank.</p><p>There was a horrible mounting pressure in his <em>face</em>. He clawed at his mask, trying to get it off with his unresponsive prosthetic fingers. He finally struggled free of it, and felt momentary relief, but the next moment he was hit by a different sensation altogether. Blinding light, stabbing thousands of needles into his brain. He covered his eyes with his hands and writhed, assailed by a wave of sensory information. Even when he successfully shut out the light, the murky dark haze he saw still overwhelmed the only other sense he could rely on. The soul flames around him that he could normally pinpoint with extraordinary accuracy- tall, thin, and resilient- all suffocated under a blanket of dark.</p><p>But this dark, this colour of black, at least it was just one piece of new information now. His brain took it, slowly wrapped around it, and swallowed it down. Once again, he was able to sense the large, steadily burning soul of his mare, still curled around him protectively.</p><p>His sense slowly expanded outward. There was the signs of life that blanketed this place, the demonic soul he had chased after, now nearly faded into nothingness. The souls of people he met earlier today, cautiously emerging from their hiding places, and finally, three bright familiar dots approaching from a distance.</p><p>Some part of him knew that he did not want these individuals to find him like this, the same part that struck him with a deep sense of possession when he first sensed Bandai, and just <em>knew</em> she took something from him. He did not like what was happening to him right now, but it had to be his and his alone.</p><p>The souls were approaching quickly. At some point soon, he was going to have to take his hands off his face. He steeled himself with a rattling breath and tore his hands away. Immediately he was blinded again by the rush of raw, unfiltered information, without even having eyelids to close over his newfound eyes. He shoved his mask back on his face as quickly as he could, running his fingers over the mask’s eyelids to make sure they were fully closed. Then, he had just enough time to grope around for the prosthetics that fell out of his eye sockets, and jammed them into the pouch slung around his neck.</p><p>Tahomaru, finding his brother curled up on the forest floor, tried to reach for his shoulder. The white mare snorted at him and butted his hand away, shielding Hyakkimaru’s body with her bulk. It took the combined effort of him and both his retainers to calm down the horse and get her to relinquish him.</p><p>“The Child is alive.” Hyogo lifted Hyakkimaru up in his arms, poorly hiding the relief in his voice. The mare had leapt just clear of the spike trap, while Bandai was not so lucky, and was throughly impaled on the bamboo stakes. Before their eyes, her body crumbled away into ash, leaving just a pool of blood. Hyakkimaru suffered no worse than some bruises when he fell off his horse from disorientation, but the brace that kept his back upright was broken, and the joints of both his knees had popped out from the impact with the ground.</p><p>The bamboo cutters themselves didn’t provide much of a useful corroboration. They only knew an emaciated woman on the brink of death showed up three days ago. The foreman took her in and fed her, and they were unaware that anything had been amiss.</p><p>“I can’t believe that beast killed Kisoi,” one old man shook his head. “He was a good man.”</p><p>“Yeah, always fair and hardworking.”</p><p>“Last night, I overheard the demon offer him money,” said the young man who often fetched water for Kisoi. “He turned her down. Thought he was crazy at the time, but…”</p><p>“My guess is that the demon did not like to hunt directly, and preferred to manipulate humans with promises of wealth,” Mutsu reported the scraps of information they could gather, while tying a cloth around Tahomaru’s arm. “But the target she chose did not fall for the lure. She may have hoped to eat us all before finding another village to prey on.”</p><p>“What happens to these people now? Who’s going to protect them?” Tahomaru looked at the demon-blood stained sword in his hand.</p><p>“Other towns will still need bamboo for construction. The Lady may decide if a new informant needs to be installed here.”</p><p>Tahomaru nodded numbly, all the rush from the battle drained out of him. No-one was interested in staying around the grisly spike trap, least of all the bamboo cutters who were anxious to return home. Some took a polite knee and somberly thanked him before leaving, and about as many also thanked Hyakkimaru, who was lying limply in his bodyguard’s arms. Tahomaru wondered if he was even a little bit aware of what happened.</p><p>They let the villagers take the remains of Kisoi out of his house first, to a grave they dug out in the grove. Then they gathered any potential sensitive evidence: a few rolled up maps and scroll cases of messages, but other than that and the tachi, the man had no possessions that would give away his rank or role.</p><p>As they mounted the horses and prepared to leave, Mutsu furrowed their brows. “That old priest. I meant to invite him to come with us. Lord Daigo would be interested in meeting another person with the same gifted sight as the Child.” Biwamaru was, of course, nowhere to be seen in the village.</p><p>“He must have slipped away while we were occupied. Can we be sure he wasn’t lying?” asked Hyogo.</p><p>“I have no doubt, after how we fought together. I suppose it does not matter now, we must head back.”</p><p>By sunset, the four were back at the castle, their clothes stained with dirt and purple blood. Hyakkimaru clung onto Hyogo’s back the whole way, his legs wrapped in a cloth carried in Mutsu’s arms.</p><p> </p><p>###</p><p> </p><p>The estate was in an uproar over the Divine Child and the young lord nearly getting themselves lost in the woods and eaten by a demon. Tahomaru was swept up in a whirlwind of servants changing his clothes, fussing over his arm, forcing food and tea on him. He could barely catch a glimpse of his brother and his retainers. Hyakkimaru wasn’t in an enviable position either. He had to be carried everywhere until a craftsman could repair his back brace and legs in the morning, and all the bandadges he was wrapped in had to be changed. All while Hyogo sat outside of the screen partitions like a dour watchdog, his forehead all bandaged up.</p><p>“The lady is with the Child right now, young lord.” Hyogo said apologetically, when Tahomaru got in a word with him and demanded to see his mother. He could guess what was happening behind the screen. Hyakkimaru detested the in-house physician with an intensity he otherwise reserved for, well, demons apparently, and only his mother could calm him down enough to be examined. “Your Lord father wants to hear what happened directly from you. Mutsu and I will make sure she is fully informed after.”</p><p>Tahomaru shoved the tachi into Hyogo’s hands. “Give this to my mother, make sure she returns it to the man’s family.”</p><p>“Of course, sir.”</p><p>He dutifully marched down to Daigo’s war room and meeting hall, where the lord rested and drank tea after returning to the estate for the evening.</p><p>“Tahomaru. I heard you slew a demon today.” Daigo offered a cup of tea to his son. Tahomaru accepted it and sipped. He filled in the expectant silence with a clipped and slow recounting of the day’s events, because he felt like if he spoke too fast, all his words would spill out gracelessly. Still, he couldn’t contain the hint of pride in his voice when he described how Mutsu and Hyogo’s combined skill kept the demon at bay, and how Hyakkimaru sent her flying into the spike trap.</p><p>Daigo’s expression remained impassive. Tahomaru, puzzled at his inscrutability, added, more quietly. “The foreman, I do feel… ashamed that we failed in our duty to protect him.”</p><p>“Do not feel shame. You did well,” Daigo emphasized. “Being a protector of our land carries a level of risk, our men all understand it.”</p><p>Tahomaru nodded. He tried his best to push the image of the dead man out of his mind, so that his teacup would stop trembling before his father noticed.</p><p>“You are still too young to accompany me in war, but defeating a demon is worthy of commending. You did not have a sword of your own for battle?”</p><p>Tahomaru looked down. “I assumed the trip would be uneventful, so I did not think about taking a weapon.“</p><p>“Then I will have a new sword forged for you at once, made from the finest steel.”</p><p>“Oh,” Tahomaru startled. “Thank you, father.”</p><p>He downed the rest of his tea. “There is something else,” he ventured. “Hyakkimaru has potential. I think he could take to combat training well.”</p><p>“That will not happen.”</p><p>“I saw the way he moves on horseback, and in the courtyard this morning-”</p><p>“No,” Daigo sighed, slowing his intonation to preserve his patience. “Even if you made him passable at swinging a stick, he could never lead a battalion. He would serve no use on a battlefield beside you.”</p><p>“But he- not every battle is best served by an army,” Tahomaru responded quickly. Unlike his tutors, his father expected more than silent nods in return when he lectured.</p><p>“I know you desire to make the most of every resource at your disposal, but not all pieces are valued the same on the battlefield. Use your head and think about the consequences of sending the people’s <em>beloved</em> Child of Mercy to fight and kill,” said Daigo. “Remember why I chose <em>you</em> as my heir.”</p><p>“I… yes.”</p><p>A cry from down the hall interrupted them. “He has eyes! The Divine Child regained his sight!”</p><p>It was hard to say who looked more shocked then. Daigo swore at the tea he spilled down the front of his clothes and stormed down the hall. Tahomaru hastily followed.</p><p>Hyakkimaru laid his head in his mother’s lap, strips of silk bandages soaking in bowls of hot water beside them. His mask was off, baring the muscles and tendons underneath. His hands were clapped tightly over his eyes.</p><p>“Hyakkimaru. Let the doctor take a look,” Nui whispered, gently tapping the back of Hyakkimaru’s hands. “All of you, please give him some room.”</p><p>Hyakkimaru understood the drumming well enough, but he was reluctant, because as soon as he lifted his hands, light would come rushing back, the luminescent soul that held him would disappear from his sense, and he would be left drifting in nothing.</p><p>No, she would not disappear, he slowly realized, as the patient, steady tap dug back into his memories. She had always been there in the past, so she would still be right here, even if he lost his sense of her.</p><p>He lowered his hands from his face. The flickering light from the oil lamps confused him. It moved strangely, not like the blinding sunlight he experienced earlier, but everything was also dimmer and blurrier, more manageable. This new sense was limiting in a way alien to him. Before, he could sense everything around him simultaneously, but now he could only take in what was in front of him, the back of his head conspicuously missing from his sight. He could not be certain if this was how it should feel.</p><p>He rolled around his eyes, trying to find focus. They produced tears from his effort. He could make out a fuzzy shape in front of him. He wasn’t sure if this was the same thing as the soul still holding him, but he clung onto it like a piece of wreckage on a violent sea. He reached up, feeling around, and was relieved when he made contact.</p><p>Tears came to Nui’s eyes unbidden, as her son touched her face with his cold fingers, and his eyes- rich dark brown, not shining black- stared into hers. The sound of her sobs broke the fragile and tense silence in the air, as everyone in the room began crying out frantically at once.</p><p>“Doctor, something’s wrong with his eyes-“</p><p>“Oh, merciful heavens-“</p><p>“Shit, he doesn’t have any eyelids, how long has it been since-“</p><p>“A miracle-“</p><p>“Get me my poultices! I also need more boiled water and salt!”</p><p>The physician kept shouting. Several servants were openly weeping and praying to Buddha. Nui was still crying, trying help the physician place a few drops of clean water in Hyakkimaru’s eyes. Even Tahomaru, peering in from behind the screen, felt his eyes sting with tears. Amidst the chaos, hardly anyone noticed Daigo leave.</p><p>The Hall of Hell was silent, but the atmosphere hummed with the same malevolent presence that seeped through the masonry and choked the air for decades upon decades. By the light of an oil lamp, Daigo could see one statue was split open, the stone riddled with cracks and holes.</p><p>“It was an unfortunate mistake,” he said to the statue. “But only that.”</p><p>Daigo felt a deathly chill creep around him, constricting against him. He shook it off.</p><p>“I owe you nothing,” he said. “I have already fulfilled my end of the deal, and I have made more use out of the mangled remains of the child than you are capable of imagining on your own.”</p><p>“One of you made the misstep of hunting too close to my home, that was entirely her fault,” he continued. “There are plenty of desperate ruined villages beyond the borders to feed on all you want, but what I have built at the heart is too strong for you to threaten.”</p><p>He smiled mirthlessly as the grip on him loosened. Over the years he learned to speak their language, and one thing he was sure of was that demons felt no pity or loyalty towards each other.</p><p>“This has only proven that one of you is too weak to protect us. You are undeserving of my blood if even a child could defeat you.” Not just any child, of course, he thought with some satisfaction. His own son and heir, already a demon slayer at age twelve, whose fame will spread around the land like fire in the coming days. He expected nothing less of him.</p><p>The air shrieked, Daigo winced as a stab of pain went through his scar.</p><p>“Of course.” he added with mocking deference. “I am a man of my word. It will not happen again.”</p><p> </p><p>###</p><p> </p><p>It had been nearly a month since Hyakkimaru got his eyes back. In the next battle after that serendipitous day, a subtle change in the wind had trapped Daigo’s forces in a bad storm, costing him a stretch of borders and two of his best lieutenants. But rain still fell regularly, crops still grew healthily, and his generals were already drawing up plans, confident that they could take back the lost territory from the Asakura by the end of summer.</p><p>For a few weeks, Tahomaru proudly carried his new sword nearly everywhere he went. It was a very fine blade, having already proven its mettle against several training dummies, and, in what he swore was an accident, one unfortunate topiary. Now he was sitting on the porch overlooking the courtyard, meticulously cleaning the sword like his instructor taught him. The familiar clicking of canes interrupted his focus. He looked up.</p><p>Hyakkimaru stood in front of him, holding a bokken out in one hand. A bandage meant to be wrapped around his eyes rested crookedly over his forehead. It looked like he managed to get it off, despite the house physician’s best efforts to keep him from fiddling with it.</p><p>“No, we can’t fight,” Tahomaru stood up, and Hyakkimaru’s posture shifted slightly in anticipation. He sighed in frustration. He wished his brother could just understand him.</p><p>He wrenched the wooden sword out of Hyakkimaru’s hand and set it back in its rack. “I’m sorry, but I’d just hurt you.” He kept his back turned, firmly ignoring him until he heard footsteps fade away.</p><p>Hyakkimaru retreated into the house, sensing waves of unhappiness from Tahomaru pushing him away. He didn’t know what he did to elicit this reaction. He had observed that people moved their mouths to get each other’s attention, though it never worked when he tried it. He had learned that faces could show a person’s emotional state, but people did not look at his face. In fact, the more he observed, the more he became acutely aware of how much he still could not experience.</p><p>He found an empty room and tucked himself into a corner, relieved by the relative dimness. He studied the tapestry hung on the opposite wall until it became too blurry to see. His tilted his head up and down with mild annoyance. His mask was packed with poultices beneath the eyelids to protect his vision, but he hadn’t quite mastered the habit of blinking yet.</p><p>At first, the swooping marks on the tapestry held no significance to him, blending in as shapes with the rest of his surroundings. Yet, as his fingers twitched out of habit, repeating the motion of thumbing through sheaves of bamboo tokens, a connection clicked in his mind.</p><p>He stared down at his hands, clutched around an invisible string of prayers. He hadn’t been outside the estate since he regained his sight, so he hadn’t had the chance to look at the tokens. But he had years to memorize the patterns of their engravings under his fingers, and though he didn’t know their meaning, he knew how giving those tokens to people made their auras light up with joy. Writing, that was the missing key, the secret to connecting with other souls.</p><p>Nui’s afternoon rest was interrupted by Hyakkimaru entering her room and bumping into her side, clutching a book he found somewhere. She absentmindedly leaned down to fix his bandage. Hyakkimaru stubbornly twisted his head away. He held out the book, flipping it open and tracing along one of the characters.</p><p>She paused. “Hyakkimaru, you… wish to learn to read?”</p><p>He responded by grabbing her hand and guiding it across the paper.</p><p>Nui knelt down, closing her fingers around the little porcelain hand, holding it tight like she would sooner let herself be dragged to hell than let go.</p>
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